BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//PYVOBJECT//NONSGML Version 1//EN BEGIN:VEVENT UID:events.uid.3499@www.discovernikkei.org DTSTART:20120130T000000Z DTEND:20120130T000000Z DESCRIPTION:<strong>HISTORY IS BEING MADE IN PASADENA\, CA!</strong>\n<stro ng>FRED KOREMATSU DAY &ndash\; JAN. 30\, 2012</strong>\n\nThe City of Pasa dena was the first city in Southern CA to pass an annual Fred Korematsu Da y to be held on the date of his birth\, Jan. 30th.&nbsp\;&nbsp\;&nbsp\; Th is resolution was passed by Pasadena City Council on February 28\, 2011.&n bsp\; We honor this individual as well as fellow activists Min Yasui and G ordon Hirabayashi and Americans of Japanese descent who were interned duri ng World War II.\n\n<strong> WHAT:</strong> &nbsp\; Fred Korematsu Day\, P asadena\n\n<strong>WHEN:</strong> &nbsp\; Monday - Jan. 30\, 2012 from 2:0 0 pm - 4:00 pm\n\n<strong>WHAT:</strong> &nbsp\; Donald Wright Auditorium\ , Main Pasadena Public Library\n\n<strong>MORE:</strong> &nbsp\; 4:30 &nda sh\; 6:00 pm &ndash\; Meeting - Invite input for Fred Korematsu Day 2013\n 6:30 pm &ndash\; Presentation to Pasadena City Council\n\n<strong>INFO:</ strong> &nbsp\;&nbsp\; FREE event but seating is limited.&nbsp\; For more information &amp\; Parking go to <a href="http://www.WowEventProductions.c om" target="_blank">www.WowEventProductions.com</a> &nbsp\; or contact Wen dy at wowproductions2@earthlink.net 626-683-8243\n (Note:&nbsp\; No parkin g is allowed in the library parking lot for this event)\n\n<strong> PROGRA M SPEAKERS: </strong>\n<strong>Opening Remarks - Pasadena Mayor BILL BOGAA RD</strong>\n<strong>Pasadena Resident </strong> <strong>ESTHER TAKEI NISH IO</strong> - During WWII\, when 120\,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their West Coast homes and incarcerated in ten desolate Amer ican concentration camps\, a group of local Quakers came up with an idea t o show that Americans of Japanese descent were indeed loyal to the United States and should be allowed to return home.&nbsp\; In September 1944\, Es ther Takei Nishio was 19-years-old when these Quakers&mdash\;with the appr oval of the U.S. Military--summoned her from a concentration camp in Color ado to serve as a &ldquo\;test case&rdquo\; to see how the Pasadena commun ity would react to a Japanese American in their midst.&nbsp\; If Esther wa s accepted\, they believed\, it would open the door for other Japanese Ame ricans to return.&nbsp\; But when word of her return made front page news\ , Esther faced a firestorm of hatred\, fear and intolerance as she attende d school at Pasadena City College.&nbsp\; One man formed a &ldquo\;Ban the Japs&rdquo\; committee.&nbsp\; A little old lady saw her at a bus stop an d spit on her one day\, and slapped her across the face the next.&nbsp\; E sther knew that she was representing her community\, and her actions could determine whether they returned or not.&nbsp\; And so she endured indigni ty with dignity and violence with non-violence.&nbsp\; Hear her compelling story at Fred Korematsu Day in Pasadena!\n\n<strong>SUSIE LING</strong> - Associate Professor of History &amp\; Asian American Studies and history at Pasadena City College (PCC).&nbsp\; She has been teaching Asian America n studies continuously since 1971.&nbsp\; PCC sponsors buses to Manzanar P ilgrimage each year.&nbsp\; In 2010\, PCC was proud to give honorary degre es to Nisei alumni who were unjustly incarcerated in 1942.\n\n<strong>ALAN NISHIO</strong> &ndash\; Founding member of the NCRR (Nikkei for Civil Ri ghts &amp\; Redress founded in 1980) and currently serves as the President of the Board of Directors of the Little Tokyo Service Center\, a communit y development corporation in Los Angeles.&nbsp\; He retired after 34 years of service as Associate Vice President of Student Services\, California S tate University.<strong></strong>\n<strong>PATTY KINAGA</strong> &ndash\; Pasadena resident Patty Kinaga specializes in employment litigation for ov er 20 years. Inspired by her father&rsquo\;s military service made a docum entary film about the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.&nbsp\; In April\, her 6-year old daughter Emily sparked a star-studded &ldquo\;Thousand Hearts&r dquo\; Concert to benefit the victims of Japan&rsquo\;s earthquake/tsunami held at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.\n\n<strong>SOJI KASHIWAGI</strong> - Playwright and Executive Producer of the Grateful Crane Ensemble\, a no n-profit theater group.&nbsp\; Pasadena resident who serves as a commissio ner on the Pasadena Human Relations Commission\, District 4.&nbsp\; He has written numerous plays\, articles\, columns and essays on the Japanese Am erican experience\, many of which have focused on the WWII imprisonment of the Japanese American community.\n\nThrough these efforts\, we hope to en courage the educational system in Pasadena to teach curriculum that the Ko rematsu Institute has developed.&nbsp\; Continue to educate Americans abou t the history of Americans of Japanese descent during WWII and of their in ternment experiences before\, during and after the war.&nbsp\; Spark more City Resolutions throughout Southern CA\, in other States as well as devel op a strong committee that will continue to advance activities to recogniz e Fred Korematsu Day \n <strong></strong>\n<strong>\n FRED KOREMATSU</stro ng> &ndash\; <a href="http://www.KorematsuInstitute.org" target="_blank">w ww.KorematsuInstitute.org</a>\n\nFred T. Korematsu was a national civil ri ghts hero. In 1942\, at the age of 23\, he refused to go to the government &rsquo\;s incarceration camps for Japanese Americans. After he was arreste d and convicted of defying the government&rsquo\;s order\, he appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1944\, the Supreme Court ruled against him\, arguing that the incarceration was justified due to military necessity.\n\nIn 1983\, Prof. Peter Irons\, a legal historian\, together with researcher Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga\, discovered key documents that gove rnment intelligence agencies had hidden from the Supreme Court in 1944. Th e documents consistently showed that Japanese Americans had committed no a cts of treason to justify mass incarceration. With this new evidence\, a l egal team of mostly Japanese American attorneys re-opened Korematsu&rsquo\ ;s 40 year-old case on the basis of government misconduct. On November 10\ , 1983\, Korematsu&rsquo\;s conviction was overturned in a federal court i n San Francisco. It was a pivotal moment in civil rights history.\n\nKorem atsu remained an activist throughout his life. In 1998\, he received the P residential Medal of Freedom\, the nation&rsquo\;s highest civilian honor\ , from President Bill Clinton. In 2010\, the state of California passed th e Fred Korematsu Day bill\, making January 30 the first day in the US name d after an Asian American. Korematsu&rsquo\;s growing legacy continues to inspire activists of all backgrounds and demonstrates the importance of sp eaking up to fight injustice.\n\nTaking some of the words that Yukio Kawar atani said at City Council on Jan 31\, 2011 &ndash\;\n\n&ldquo\;Fred Korem atsu challenged the Government all the way to the Supreme Court.&nbsp\; Th e Supreme Court decision held that military necessity outweighed Korematsu &rsquo\;s individual rights and the rights of all Americans of Japanese de scent.&nbsp\; Fred Korematsu is a hero and a symbol for all Americans to h onor.&nbsp\; he alerted us to be vigilant to the continuing legal concept that the government can suspend civil liberties guaranteed by the U.S. Con stitution and discriminate and take action against any group or organizati on of people on the basis of military necessity.&rdquo\;\n\n###\n \n Wendy Anderson\n WOW! Productions\n 626-683-8243\n <a href="http://www.wowevent productions.com" target="_blank">www.woweventproductions.com</a> DTSTAMP:20240419T072619Z SUMMARY:FRED KOREMATSU DAY – JAN. 30\, 2012 URL:/en/events/2012/01/30/fred-korematsu-day-jan-30-2012/ END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR